Islamic banking is steadily moving into the mainstream of conventional financial systems and has remained largely insulated from the global credit crisis. It is expanding not only in the Muslim world, but also in other countries where Muslims are a minority, notably Britain, France, the US and even Japan. The industry has grown at a prodigious rate of 15-20% annually over the past decade; a trend that is likely to continue as the economic and construction boom in the Middle East and Asia regions will boost the value of Shariah assets. More...

As the US election looms, American leaders boast that the jihadists have been defeated, but, intelligence analysts warn, they are far from beaten and remain ‘the most serious terrorist threat to the United States’. By Ed Blanche More...

The wetlands of Iraq and the Marsh Arabs that lived there were a source of fascination and inspiration for centuries until, in an act of barbarism, former president Saddam Hussein ordered that they should be drained. Now, an exciting new plan aims to reclaim areas of the devastated wetlands and attempt to return them to their former glory. By Thomas Land More...